Month: December 2018

Women seeking an abortion will have to wait three full days for the procedure, the chief medical officer has clarified. Angry pro-choice TDs said they had been led to believe that women would get an abortion on the third day and not have to wait until the fourth.

Abortion will be legal in Ireland from next month. There was controversy about the enforcment of a three-day waiting period between a doctor agreeing that a woman can have an abortion, and the procedure.

4 Independent Abortion Provider Staffers Open Up About Their Work & What Keeps Them Going

By Madhuri Sathish
Dec 17, 2018

Ever since Donald Trump assumed the presidency, the restrictions on abortion access have only been exacerbated. Many states have had to contend with abortion clinic closures, and conservative lawmakers continuously try to use religious exemptions, strict time limits, and financial threats to effectively make abortions impossible to access. But even as state legislatures attempt to crack down on abortion rights, independent abortion providers across the country tell Bustle that they have remained on the frontlines of reproductive justice work, despite the mounting challenges.

Quarter of abortion-services GPs yet to agree helpline sign-up
HSE hoping more GPs who have agreed to provide services will sign up to helpline

Dec 17, 2018
Jennifer Bray

About a quarter of general practitioners who signed up to provide abortion services have not yet agreed to have their name made available for a new helpline. However, the majority – 75 per cent – of GPs who have signed up have said they are satisfied to do so.

The helpline will provide information to women when they call looking for guidance on where to access abortion care.

As access to abortion gets harder in the US, women turn to an online service in the Netherlands

December 17, 2018
By Allison Herrera
(also a podcast)

Marie was 19 when a pregnancy test she took in the bathroom at work came out positive. That was a couple of years ago. Marie, a waitress, thought to herself, "I really can't afford to take care of a child."

It was her second pregnancy and the second time she needed an abortion. Marie decided not to go to a clinic this time, though.

Santiago, Chile, Dec 17, 2018 / 10:53 am (ACI Prensa).- A Chilean court has ruled that private healthcare facilities may conscientiously object to abortions, declaring unconstitutional a law that had gone into effect in October.

By a vote of 8-2, the nation’s Constitutional Court struck down a portion of the Regulation on Conscientious Objection of the Law on Abortion. The court accepted a Dec. 6 appeal filed by senators of the Chile Vamos coalition which sought to annul part of the Department of Health regulation.

Salvadoran woman accused of trying to abort rapist's baby freed
Imelda Cortez was freed after judge acquitted her of lesser charges in a case that tested country's strict abortion ban.

by Anna-Cat Brigida
Dec 17, 2018

A Salvadoran rape survivor accused of attempting to abort her abuser's baby was released on Monday after a judge found her not guilty on reduced charges in a case that tested the country's strict enforcement of a total ban on abortion.

Twenty-year-old Imelda Cortez became pregnant in 2016 after years of being raped by her 70-year-old stepfather. In April 2017, she gave birth to a baby girl in the toilet. At the time, she did not know she was pregnant, Cortez said. When she went to the hospital, a doctor accused her attempting to have an abortion and reported her to authorities.

SOUTH AUSTRALIA- New abortion bill tabled in South Australia: no qualifications, no upper time limits, no abortion-specific regulations at all

by International Campaign for Women's Right to Safe Abortion
Dec 17, 2018

The South Australia Abortion Action Coalition (SAAAC), formed in 2016 to campaign for a change in the law, was at the State Parliament on 5 December to hear Tammy Franks of the Greens introduce a bill to decriminalise abortion along with other campaigners for law reform, whose ages spanned from their 20s to their 80s. Anne Levy, one of the MPs who was a member of parliament when South Australia last reformed its law in 1969, was also there to witness the bill being introduced.

SAAAC report that “The bill is exactly what we wanted…. [Franks’] speech set new horizons for what can be said in Australian parliaments about abortion.” SAAAC are optimistic that decriminalisation in South Australia will make a difference to women’s access to abortion services, as there are specific features in the SA law that, once removed, will enable simple and effective change straight away. Broader change, however, they believe will take ongoing work (e.g. getting GPs and community health care to offer early medical abortion in rural and remote areas).